Swamy too demands Chidambaram's resignation

Chennai, June 14 (UNI) Toeing the line of Opposition AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today demanded the resignation of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram for refusing to abolish Participatory Notes (P-notes).

Addressing a press conference here, he claimed that Ms Jayalalithaa's demand that he should resign immediately on this issue was ''perfectly justified''.

Mr Chidambaram had asked his Ministry to rebut Ms Jayalalithaa's criticism on the issue. ''But the rebuttal does not answer her main criticism of P-notes that since it was outside the purview of SEBI regulations that is applicable to other financial instruments, it has become a tool of the corrupt and the wicked,'' he charged.

Dr Swamy, who pointed out that the solution to the present price rise was abolition of P-notes and central excise tax, said the Tarapore Committee appointed by the Ministry had recommended that P-notes be abolished. It was in the interest of the nation and financial stability, he added.

Former SEBI Chairman M Damodaran, during his tenure, had written several times that P-notes, being outside normal disclosure rules, were playing havoc with the stability of the stock market and leading to manipulation, he recalled.